Belgian Art Nouveau

The “Group of 20” included Baron Victor Horta (architect, book designer, jewelry maker), Henri van de Velde (designer, architect, painter), and Jan Toorop (artist).
Horta in 1892 built a townhouse for Emile Tassel that was first of its kind in Art Nouveau design.
Van de Velde was a seminal figure in the Art Nouveau movement. He combined Japanese, French, English Arts & Crafts and Glasgow schools. In 1892, van de Velde wrote an essay called Déblaiement d’art, that called for an art that was contemporary, yet integrated with work from the past. In his heart, van de Velde was an Arts & Crafts advocate. He wrote a book called The Renaissance in Modern Applied Art in 1901 that was a bible for 20th century architects & designers. It discussed the presence of “negative space,” like the sunlight outline of a shadow. The book discussed the interrelationship of all the creative and applied arts. In 1902, the Grand Duke summoned him to Weimar to reorganize the art schools. This was a forerunner to Gropius founding Bauhaus in 1919. van de Velde eventually returned to Belgium where he was honored and beatified by his government and countrymen for the rest of his days.
Privat Livemont did nearly 36 posters in Mucha mode. His style was a thick white outline that separated the subject from the background.